Morocco - Part 1 of 12 Marrakech

Just kidding.  There probably won't be 11 more posts about Morocco but with all that happened there I feel like could write at least 12 posts about it! Morocco was everything we went on this trip for.  It was pure adventure and took us completely out of our elements into an unfamiliar and totally different world than we were used to.  You probably just want to see pictures but I have to tell stories too.  For posteritys sake and for the chance that this will be published into a book and be sold at gas stations worldwide.  Or in case it gets made into a movie with Danny Devito playing me and Arnold Swartzzneggar portraying Robert.

I dont even know where to start!! Well our journey into Morocco started at the northern city of Tangier. Which was only a 45 minute flight from Madrid.  We flew via Ryanair which required us to do some ridiculous things like have Robby shove a blanket down his pants and wear a bath towell as a shawl just so we don't get charged a huge extra fee for luggage space. Ok I guess it only required some ridiculus stuff of Robby. But I watched and laughed.  It was crazy how much could change in just a short flight. Spain and Morocco are so completely different in terms of climate, geography, people, culture, and just about everything.  It was crazy to see the contrast.

As soon as we landed we caught a night train to the big city of Marrakech in the south west side of the country.  The train left at 9pm and arrived in Marrakech at 8am the next day so this would be our hotel for the night as well!  I was excited to sleep on the train - it seemed fun! And we were pretty lucky - although it was busy we were able to find our own compartment with two benches for us to sleep on.  We got in our pajamas and fully ready for bed as if this was the normal thing and woke up in the crazy city of Marrakech!

I had no idea what to expect of morocco.  Getting there it seemed like a total blend of cultures and places I had been before, but all put together in a way that my senses weren't used to!  The streets were desert-y, very dusty and many very run down which reminded me of places I've been and seen in Mexico so at times I expected them to speak spanish, but never french!  Their religion out there is Muslim which I typically associate with Middle Eastern Islamic so it was especially weird to see French signs everywhere and hear everyone speak French.  Although there was still a lot of Arabic as well.  I totally respect these people for their dedication to their religion.  At five different times throughout the day (which I'm sure were specific times but we have no sense of time right now) a man would get on some kind of intercom and you would hear a booming voice chanting prayer.  This meant you had to go pray and people would disappear to the nearest mosques.  They had them everywhere, even in the middle of bus stations! And they weren't afraid to put everything on hold when they went to pray - stores would close, streets would empty and if the person selling train or bus tickets went to pray then you'd have to wait for them to get back. Major dedication- and that's not mentioning the fact that the women completely cover themselves in robes and scarves over their hair in 105 degree heat! 

To be honest I had prepared myself for weird looks in Morocco - being a blonde American - but it seemed like no one really looked twice!  I soon found out that they have become very used to tourists in this city.  

The city is made up of a huge Medina which is basically rows and rows of houses built up on top of and next to each other.  It's seriously like a crazy maze because they have alleys and streets going every which way and crossing each other a million times.  These medinas are where everyone lives.  They hang out a ton in the streets which are typically too small for cars so they race around on bicycles or scooters.  And they have no boundaries with these bad boys! We were constantly diving out of the way haha

The streets of the Medina

Rabid Robby in the streets!

Although the country is poor they have extremely awesome accommodations there called Riads.  They are basically rooms within huge mansion type houses that they rent out to tourists.  Most Riads have about 10-15 rooms in them.  Although they are pretty cheap, they were still out of our budget so we planned to stay in a hostel until we found a riad online for $35!!! We booked it at the train station and a taxi dropped us off just outside the medina (since he can't fit in the roads).  We actually had to pay a couple little boys to guide us to our Riad - otherwise we would have NEVER found it in those mazes!! Even after going to the Riad a couple times we would still get lost in the medina and not because we are directionally challenged, it's just that bad! You need to leave a trail or something to find your way back! Anyway-  walking up to the Riad we were a little skeptical.  It didn't look too inviting (although I LOVE the look of this door as well as many others in the medina)

But this is what it looked like on the inside

You're welcome

Our room!

A roof terrace with an amazing view!

View looking down from the terrace

The best part is that there was no one else in the Riad with us- the other 14 rooms were empty! We had it all to ourselves! To date this is still the best place we've stayed on our trip and im guessing it will stay that way!

Oh and they also made us breakfast in the morning!  Homemade Moroccan bread with jam and honey - so delicious!!

Us with our Riad host, Norgay who was such a sweetheart!

Ok so we spent a lot of time at the Riad but we did venture into the medinas.  The medinas all lead to different squares or plazas which are large openings where a lot of people gather.  This is where you will find many vendors, restaurants, entertainers, etc and the most popular one in Marrkech is Djemaa El-Fna.  We made our way over there, thanks to our Riad host Norgay for walking us through the maze. Within the maze and before the square are rows and rows of shops, which they call souks.  These things are crazy and it's booth after booth of handmade goods, purses, food, jewelry, lamps, you name it!

Inside the souk

They had the most amazing plates and bowls and these awesome looking lamps! I wanted to buy a bunch of them and shove them in my backpack to carry around for the next three months.  If only this was the last stop on our trip!  Robby loved the plates too so we want to go back one day and get a full dinner set. Maybe a weekend trip sometime. 

Beautiful colors!

I could use at least 29 of these 

Amazed

They even had farmers market type stuff 

After getting lost in the souks you are then dumped out into the square Djemma El-Fna.  This is where we saw lots of other tourists and where we saw how much the vendors play off them.  They have lots of entertainment there including music, snake charmers, acrobats, etc but it seems more geared toward tourists now than being authentic. Even in the souks you are pulled so many different directions with people begging you to buy things or just give them money.  It's sad to see how much they rely on tourists and it breaks your heart to see their conditions, but after a while it gets extremely exhausting.  For example, we were walking through the square and walked over to watch these snake charmers.  Well one guy grabs us and puts the snakes around our neck and says to take a picture. Sure!! So after we do Robby gives him a tip probably equivalent to 2 bucks.  The guy looks at it and says "that's nothing!" and asked for 200 Durham which is equivalent to almost 20 Euro!! Yeah right!! So we said no way and started to walk away.  He even grabbed Robby's arm and was yelling at us as we walked away. We thought it was ridiculous! There was a lot of that type of stuff that went on there.

These are worth $20, right?!

I kissed a snake and I liked it!

K the guy looks pretty scary here.  Although he did yell at us, most Morrocans were some of the nicest people we had ever met!! They just get pushy with money, but if you stand your ground they back off.  And we did meet many who were so helpful and kind and never asked for money for their helpfulness (sometimes if you asked for directions they would expect tips if they gave you an answer).

More pictures in the square:

A cool mosque in the square

Snake charmer! Don't look - it'll cost you ;)

it was extremely hot and we were sweating like crazy!! Then I'd look over and see these ladies. I have no idea how they do it!!

That's not a shadow. That's backpack strap sweat baby!

After a couple days of exploring, having fun, and sweating our butts off we wanted to make the cross country trek to Merzouga, which was the gateway to the Sahara desert!!! Stay tuned for the rest of the journey!!!

Off to the bus station where we would spend the next few hours and then from there some horrendous bus rides, little did we know!